As classroom teachers, it is SO difficult to get out of our "cave" and pop in to our colleagues' classrooms to observe the amazing instructional practices they are utilizing, much less sit in on other grade level meetings to find out about what they are planning (Though we are hoping to make that happen this year!). SO-in an effort to highlight the great things happening around our school, we have decided to create a weekly newsletter. This newsletter will highlight PBL successes, learning moments, and offer resources to support PBL. Check out the first issue!
Julie and I developed a modified version of a high school PBL task we read about in one of our BIE resource books. We thought this would be a great way for teachers start with PBL through a school wide project. It's a low stakes project that serves as a vehicle for establishing routines and procedures, while building community at Unity Grove Elementary. In an effort to support teachers with this work, we designed a mini-project that modeled many of the activities they would engage their students in during the first 9 weeks. Trying to do this mini project during the week of pre-planning was no easy feat. We were very concerned that having only 3 days (one hour sessions) for this work would cause teacher groups to lose project momentum. However, despite the project limitations, our faculty handled the project like a champ! We were so excited to see teachers attend the sessions completely focused, excited to learn, and wiling to participate despite the numerous items on their "to-do" list to prepare for the first weeks of school. We kicked off the project by asking the faculty to shout out what they think of when they think of the staff at UGE. We created a word cloud using Wordpack as they gave adjectives: It was so great to hear such positive things about our faculty and staff! We examined the list of words and determine what we could improve. Grade levels worked together to determine their team name for the project, create a banner, and then prepare to share their team name during the first PL session. We then followed plan outline for the week. Here are some images to recap the fabulous week: Despite the limitations of a busy week preparing for the semester ahead, the faculty presentations were amazing! It was so refreshing to hear all of laughing, watch typically "shy" teachers present for their group, and see the level of creativity all of our teachers have to offer.
It was a great project, but the real work is still ahead. The experience was simply a snapshot of what PBL can look like in the classroom and more conversations are needed to determine where support is needed. We gave teachers a plan to start with, hoping it would help them feel more comfortable starting with PBL. During the second week of school, Julie and I will visit grade level planning meetings and classrooms to identify were we can support others. Stay tuned! We first needed to determine how to approach support at UGE. Would we start with only those who demonstrated interest in PBL or develop buy-in among all teachers and go school wide? Fortunately, our risk-taking principal, Anne Wilson, encouraged us to dive right in school wide. With Anne's support, coupled with the encouragement from strong teacher leaders among our staff, we decided to go school wide. We asked teachers during pre-planning to describe the qualities we want this year's high school graduate to have. They shouted out characteristics such as: driven, resourceful, tech proficient, collaborative, and globally responsible. Then, we showed them this powerful video: Next, we asked teachers to share what they liked and what they wondered about they heard and saw. This was especially helpful in determining the misconceptions of PBL teachers have and what they want to know more about. It led to really great discussion about the similarities between PBL and what we already do in our classrooms (Formative assessment, student products, inquiry, etc.), which was very exciting! This short session sparked great discussion about PBL and motivated our teachers to start looking for resources to support PBl and digital resources to support the 4 C's. It also gave us the information we needed to develop a mini-PBL task for teachers to engage in during the week, so they could get a small taste of PBL.
Entry event: About a month ago, Julie and I found out we would become "Teachers on Assignment for PBL". We had both been trained through BIE on project-based learning, attended the coaching academy, and had multiple experiences over the years practicing PBL in our own classrooms, so naturally, we felt ready to take on the world spreading the PBL love, right?! Absolutely. (insert sarcasm here)
We are both passionate about project-based learning and advocate that it is one of the best vehicles for student learning as demonstrated by the success we have seen in our own classrooms the past few years. So, how do we support teachers in our school and across the district in utilizing the instructional strategies that are embedded in PBL design? That is OUR driving question. Follow along as we share the triumphs and tribulations of this amazing journey... |
AuthorsJulie and Amanda serve as "Teachers on Assignment" for the 2014-2015 school year, acting as coaches to support PBL implementation school wide. We aren't sure yet what that looks like, so follow our journey as we figure it out! We would love your feedback! ArchivesCategories |